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Israel massively escalated its bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Monday evening which it claimed was launched in order to end rocket fire from the besieged territory.

By Tuesday evening in Gaza, fourteen persons had been killed. Among the fourteen, seven were killed and twenty-five were severely injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting a house in the southern Gaza Strip, a medical official told Ma’an News Agency.

Gaza journalist Mohammed Omer gave a live update of the situation in Gaza to Democracy Now! this morning, which can be heard in the video at the top of this page.

Along with author and activist Miko Peled, I also appeared on the program to discuss the causes of the rising violence in Palestine:

I challenged one of the key claims made by Israel: that Palestinians are responsible for the escalating violence.

According to UN figures, up until 30 June this year, Israel killed seventeen Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, up from eight in the equivalent period in 2013, and it injured 1,292.

In Gaza, Israel killed fourteen Palestinians up until 30 June and injured 171. This compares with three Palestinians killed in Gaza in the equivalent period in 2013.

With 31 Palestinian fatalities in total up to 30 June, this is about three times the number as a year earlier.

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Palestine needs to ask the UN for peacekeeping troops to protect the Palestinians from Israel's military might. Palestine has no military and no way to defend themselves from Israel's attacks on civilian populations.

UN peacekeepers seems like a sensible idea, especially for two-staters like Abbas who accept the 1967 borders.

If there's any use to having UN recognition, why not request peacekeepers? Israel wouldn't agree, and the U.S. would of course veto, but it would show the Zionist project in a harsh light. In particular, the wall and settlements would be exposed.